A total of 3,180 cases of COVID-19 were reported across Washington state in the past seven days, approaching the weekly totals seen at the previous height of the outbreak in the state nearly three months ago.
The latest statewide total represents a 14% increase from the previous week, according to GeekWire’s analysis of data from the Washington State Department of Health. It’s a 150% jump from the state’s weekly low of 1,252 confirmed COVID-19 cases, which came in the week ended May 23, a little more than a month ago.
Appearing on CBS’ Face the Nation on Sunday morning, Washington Gov. Jay Inslee emphasized the importance of wearing masks and criticized President Donald Trump and Vice President Mike Pence for their recent comments on the crisis.
“When I’ve heard the vice president talk about how things are just hunky dory, it’s just maddening,” Inslee said. “The situation is critical in many places across the United States, and all the happy talk and wishful thinking the world is not going to wash that away.”
He added, “So we are taking very strong measures to get people to mask up. We know that’s the solution from a health standpoint, and the way to reopen our economy.”
Inslee instituted a statewide order for mandatory face coverings that began on Friday, and on Saturday he took steps to slow the reopening of the economy in some counties.
Speaking on CBS, Inslee said President Trump’s messages have not helped.
“Instead of tweeting the other day about the importance of masks, he tweeted about monuments. We need a president who will care more about living Americans and less about dead Confederates. This has an enormous impact. And if we can get everybody wearing MAGA hats to wear a mask, we’re going to tame this virus.”
The increase coincides with wider availability of testing, with more than 10,000 tests being conducted in the state on some days. However, the level of testing has been steady over the past three weeks in the state, theoretically making it less of a factor in the most recent uptick. (Updated since original post with testing numbers. Thanks to Gregg Daugherty for pointing out the omission.)
In the Seattle region, the numbers also continued to climb, with more than 600 cases reported across King County during the past week, an increase of 45% from the week before.
The latest weekly total is more than twice the total in King County two weeks ago, when the weekly count bottomed out at 241 cases after a period of steady declines.
However, the latest weekly count of 607 cases is still less than half of the more than 1,300 weekly cases reported in early April, the peak of the outbreak in the region.
The biggest difference in this latest surge: a relatively low number of hospitalizations and deaths, compared with the prior peaks in the region and the state. Public health officials and researchers have pointed an increase in transmission among younger populations as a major reason for the declining death and hospitalization rates.
Washington state reported a total of 34 deaths from COVID-19 in the past week, down 32% from the week before, and the lowest total in the state since mid-March. One death was reported in King County, the lowest weekly total since public health officials began tracking the disease in late February and early March.
Seattle and King County saw a total of 11 new hospitalizations over the past week, a fraction of the numbers seen in late March. Washington state is seeing about 20 new hospitalizations a day, on average, down from more than 80 per day at the prior peak of the outbreak.
A key statistical indicator of COVID-19 transmission remains above the threshold needed to further stem the spread of the pandemic, according to the latest situation report released by state officials on Friday afternoon, based research by the Institute for Disease Modeling, Microsoft and the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center.
Washington, the original epicenter of COVID-19 in the country, is now among 31 states where cases are back on the rise, according to the New York Times.
